THE LIES THAT DEFINE US by Micalea Smeltzer Release Day Blitz + Review + Giveaway

Ariella Geller is on the run from some very bad people and Liam Wade doesn’t know what he’s running from.Freedom has been an elusive dream for Ari, but when her chance for escape comes, she takes it. She finds herself in California and forced to accept help from strangers in order to stay off the streets and avoid being found by those she ran from.

Liam Wade is sick of living in the shadow of his famous father. All he wants is to make a name for himself as a professional surfer, but it’s impossible when the media focuses on every other aspect of his life. All he wants is respect, a chance to prove himself, but when it never comes he finds himself running and hiding from the ones who love him the most.

When their paths collide Ari and Liam are forced to confront their demons, and in the process they just might find a reason to stop running.

I laid my head against the cool glass of the bus window and watched the rain slick against it. The water beaded against the glass and then slid down in little rivulets that I traced with my finger.
I wouldn’t miss the rain.I wouldn’t miss anything about Oregon.

That place wasn’t my home. Never had been, and never would be.

With a jolt, the bus roared to life, startling me, but I relaxed a moment later when we pulled out of the station.

Freedom was so close to being mine.

I watched the people on the street as the bus pulled away. I was searching for buzzed brown hair and eerie black eyes, but he wasn’t amongst them.

He didn’t know I’d left yet.

And hopefully, by the time he did, I’d be long gone.

I adjusted my hoodie so my face was hidden from the other people on the bus and wiggled around, settling myself in for the long ride to California.

Unlike the other people on the bus, I didn’t have a cellphone to keep me company. Cellphones were traceable so I’d ditched mine. I couldn’t risk him finding me, because if he had I was certain he’d kill me. He would’ve eventually killed me if I stayed, too. My only option had been to take the risk of running away. I would have rather died on my terms than his, but if everything went according to plan, I’d be free and he’d never find me.

He called me Scarlett, but Scarlett didn’t exist.

Scarlett was a lie.

My name was Ariella, and I was reclaiming my stolen life.

Review

I was really excited about this book. Liam was very mean yet mysterious in the previous book so I was curious what his story would be. This is a much darker book than this authors normal book. Way darker. I really liked that aspect of it. The first one was so light and carefree, the fact that this one was darker was a nice change. I loved this book up until I got 90% in. Then it went downhill and got way darker. There were some dark aspects to this which I really liked because it was different from normal for this author. However the end got much darker than the book had been.

The romance was very cute as per usual for this author. I loved Liam and Ariella. Ariella is one of my favorite female characters from this author. It seemed to take a very very long time to get any details or information out of her though which at a certain point got annoying. Liam was a good guy. Not one of my favorites from this author, but I liked him. The chip on his shoulder was annoying. I didn’t really buy the excuse he uses for why he avoids his family for two years. He has such a great supportive family and I didn’t think that it was believable that he would avoid them for such a long time. Or that they would let him. I also wished there was more interactions with his family. We have fallen in love with the enter band of Willow Creek and want to know about their lives and families!

I did love Liam’s friends! They were a great aspect of the story and I think added a lot of value to the narrative.

Overall I did enjoy the book. It was mainly the end. It got so dark so quick and I didn’t think the rest of the book was leading up to something that dark.

Micalea Smeltzer is a bestselling Young and New Adult author from Winchester, Virginia.
She’s always working on her next book, and when she has spare time she loves to
read and spend time with her family.